Love a Little

Taken from No Impact Man

It is sad to say, but I haven't read a full book in an extremely long time so when I started No Impact Man (for school) I had very low expectations. Everyone in class hated it, and I would not recommend it either. However, it amazed me that this man cut so many things out of his life for an entire year and I thought the lessons he learned on his journey were amazing.

This isn't a book review I promise, but when I got to the end of the book this part really stuck out to me. "At a child's grave, did you ever wish you had another video game? When I take my last breath, will there be a wish that I had more stuff? I'll wish for only one thing, I think. That I loved better. That I had been better at loving and not being distracted by stuff or accomplishment. This life is too short and it will soon be over. What will we use it for?"

Live life to the fullest, right? Live every day as if it is your last, right? That is what the author is getting at. We all understand this concept and many of us desperately try to do it, at least when we remember to. But it is not THAT easy. If this was truly my last day, I would drop out of college, visit my loved ones, clear my bank account, and definitely I would not be worrying about telling you guys about it. I know I cannot live my life as dramatic as that, but I know that I could do better.

I have learned first hand that when someone passes away, some people get on this weird high. Maybe I shouldn't call it a high because we are clearly overcome with grief. But by this I mean we are so quick to mend relationships, and we call everyone and tell them how much we love and appreciate them. Everyone now means the world to you. Everyone is there for you and you are there for everyone. You don't get mad so easily. If you are a believer, you pray more. You care less about the things you have and more about the people that surround you. This is not wrong all, but as time passes so does this feeling and we are soon back to our old ways. 

There's the problem. Why is it so hard to continue? And why does it take a tragedy or something dramatic to make us appreciate things.

In the book, the author removes everything in his life that had a negative effect on the environment. After that, he was literally left with only his family, and as I read about how close they became, it was beautiful. They cut out social media, electricity, cars, TV, and pretty much everything else that is man made (they did keep a house though) and they started doing more things. They spent less money. They picnicked. They went on walks. That should not be a big deal but how many of us can really say that we go on walks with our families?

My point is.. when we are gone, our assets will not matter. But our families will have to learn to live on without us. We have to figure out our priorities now so that the ones who matter can live on with beautiful memories and not deep regret. 

                              Lo and Lex, friends, your younger sisters, older sisters, and you.. you do not have to wait to lose someone to appreciate the important things in life, and you do not have to resort to living off the environment either, but it is safe to say, we can all love a little better.

                                                                             xoxo, Ari